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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Clinton (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Clinton. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Clinton is located in Big Stone County.

To see how the shape of Minnesota's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Big Stone County: Lac qui Parle, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, Grant (SD) & Roberts (SD).

Below are the counties that are near Clinton. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Clinton:

  • Big Stone County     (The home county of Clinton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Graceville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Barry
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Johnson
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ortonville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Odessa
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Beardsley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Correll
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Correll is located in Big Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Correll
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Herman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Norcross
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Norcross is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norcross
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
  • Lac qui Parle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Bellingham
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Bellingham is located in Lac qui Parle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellingham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
    • Louisburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Louisburg is located in Lac qui Parle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Louisburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
    • Nassau
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Nassau is located in Lac qui Parle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nassau
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nassau <1>
  • Stevens County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Chokio
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Alberta
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Donnelly
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Donnelly is located in Stevens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donnelly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 233 people
    • Morris
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Swift County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Appleton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Holloway
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Holloway is located in Swift County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holloway
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 85 people
  • Traverse County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Collis
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Dumont
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Dumont is located in Traverse County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumont
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
    • Browns Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Browns Valley is located in Traverse County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browns Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 522 people
    • Wheaton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Grant County (SD)
  • Roberts County (SD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.
    • Shady Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Hartford Beach
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Hartford Beach is located in Roberts County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartford Beach
      • Estimated population in 2014: 126 people
    • South Dakota Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • South Dakota Park is located in Roberts County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dakota Park
      • Estimated population in 2014: 15 people
    • Corona
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Corona is located in Roberts County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Corona <1>
    • Wilmot
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Peever Flats
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Peever
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Spring Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Spring Grove is located in Roberts County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Grove
      • Estimated population in 2014: 125 people

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Clinton, see our County-by-County Page for Clinton.

Cemeteries Near Clinton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Clinton.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Clinton - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Clinton covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Clinton had a population of 225 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Clinton had a population of 405 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Clinton, with the one closest to Clinton listed first.

  • Graceville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Barry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Ortonville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Johnson
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Big Stone City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Collis
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Odessa
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Chokio
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Beardsley
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Dumont
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Dumont is located in Traverse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumont
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
  • Corona
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Corona is located in Roberts County (SD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corona
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Corona <1>
  • Correll
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Correll is located in Big Stone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Correll
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Wilmot
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Browns Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Browns Valley is located in Traverse County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browns Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 522 people
    • Fairfield
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Fairfield is located in Swift County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfield

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Clinton. See our List of 1890's Communities around Clinton.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Clinton ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 73 newspapers that have been published in the area around Clinton.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Clinton. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Clinton and those printed in the larger area surrounding Clinton.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4> of Clinton.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Clinton:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Clinton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Clinton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.